A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighting fixtures. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lamp ballast case that has a bracket at an advanced position for withdrawing the ballast to fit in a tight space about fluorescent lamp fixtures.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Compact fluorescent lamp fixtures have been developed to offer an effective and permanent solution for energy-efficient lighting at home and businesses. More recent advancement may be found in product lines under the trademark ‘HALO’ as described in US Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0025031 of Wronski et al. The application describes a lighting fixture designed for recessed lighting on insulated ceilings with multiple adjustment features to facilitate installation and illumination customization. The three major components of the fixture for use with a fluorescent lamp are a lamp housing, a junction box and a replaceable ballast all mounted on telescoping bar hangers, which are in turn attached to construction studs or joists. The ballast is surface mounted by screws to a planar mounting plate of the junction box. However, due to the operational heat of the ballast that will add to the lamp heat, the ballast must be mounted on the junction box at the other side of the lamp housing at the cost of a maintenance personnel's problem. As shown in FIG. 1 attached to show the prior art, the junction box 1 of the lamp housing 2 is closed at sides by a first remountable wall plate 3 close to a ceiling opening 4 and the opposite ballast mounting plate 5, which is blocked from normal view through the opening 4. A spring clip 6 holds both plates 3 and 5 onto open ends of the junction box 1. The ballast 7 with end flanges is screw fastened to plate 5 and faces away from the first plate 3. The necessary heat dissipation from the lamp and ballast 7 needs a good physical clearance between the components for air circulation but at the same time is subjected to certain dimensional limit.
Eventually, when it is time to repair the lamp by replacing inoperable ballast 7, housing 2 is supposed to be first detached from its fixture base 8 but the existence or location of ballast 7 is impossible to detect from under the ceiling through the access opening 4 without a prior knowledge or consulting the original installation guide. In addition, identifying and releasing the plate 5/ballast 7 assembly are not all necessary to replace the bad ballast 7. It must be replaced with a new one by unscrewing and screwing at least two screw fasteners on the plate 5.
Above all, such inability to access to the major connected part may undermine the stated lighting fixture improvements when many of these ballasts will reach the service life and need replacements in series. An ideal ballast fixture for this purpose should be associated with the fixture junction box at an easy location to find and replace while taking up less space of the fixture.
In view of the foregoing need for improvement and others, an object of the present invention is to provide a lamp ballast with a built-in bracket that is integral to its casing and attaches directly to a junction box of a fluorescent lighting fixture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a lamp ballast with an advanced bracket section for mounting on a junction box resulting in little to none protrusion from the surface of the junction box to freely place the ballast at the best location to work with during maintenance.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an economic solution to encase a lamp ballast as well as fasten it to a lighting fixture without adding a third component and instead with loosing existing fastening hardware and its metal weight.